Shaykh Abu Taubah discusses how we deal with trials and tribulations in our lives and how we should never feel safe in our belief in Islam.
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00:00:00All praise belongs to Allah. We praise Him, we seek His forgiveness and His guidance.
00:00:08We seek refuge in Allah from the evils of our own egos and the evil results of our own deeds.
00:00:17Anyone whom Allah guides, then no one can lead him astray.
00:00:22And anyone whom Allah leaves to stray, then there is none that can guide him.
00:00:28And I bear witness that there is nothing worthy of worship.
00:00:32And no gods in reality, except Allah alone who has no partners.
00:00:38And I bear witness that Muhammad, the son of Abdullah, is his slave and his final messenger.
00:00:46Allah says what could mean,
00:00:49O you who believe, fear Allah, respect Allah, remember Allah, as it is His right to be feared, remembered and respected.
00:01:01And don't any of you die except that you die as Muslims.
00:01:06Allah also says what could mean,
00:01:09O mankind, fear your Lord, remember your Lord, respect your Lord who created you all from one soul, Adam.
00:01:20And created from that soul its mate, Eve.
00:01:24And raised up and spread from the two of them, many men and women.
00:01:31And fear Allah.
00:01:33And if you don't know who Allah is, Allah says,
00:01:36The one whom you ask things for, and don't cut ties with the wombs that bore you.
00:01:43Indeed Allah above you all is laying in watch.
00:01:47Allah also says what could mean, O you who believe, fear Allah.
00:01:53And in light of your fear of accountability, then say a word that goes straight to the point.
00:02:01Meaning basically, think about what you're going to say,
00:02:05and think about the idea that everything that you are saying is being recorded by the angels.
00:02:12That not a word that we say, except an angel is writing it down,
00:02:18and he understands what you intended behind that speech.
00:02:22You know sometimes we say thank you, but we mean whatever.
00:02:26You know we say some things, so it sounds like we're being polite, but we're actually not.
00:02:31So the angel is writing down everything that we are saying,
00:02:35and everything that we intend with what we're saying.
00:02:39So this is the accountability, and Allah knows best, that we're referring to.
00:02:44He says, fear Allah and then open your mouth and speak.
00:02:49If you do this, Allah will make right something you did wrong.
00:02:53Correct our deeds, and forgive us our sins, and whomsoever is already obeying Allah.
00:03:00Meaning whoever it is that is at that moment, because this obedience is moment to moment.
00:03:08It's not something that, you know a lot of times, we Muslims,
00:03:13because we live in a world full of kuffar, we think that we're saved.
00:03:19The mentality is, we're saved, we've arrived at najat, salvation.
00:03:26Whereas the Prophet ﷺ, he didn't teach us to have this mentality that we have been saved.
00:03:37And so now we are safe.
00:03:40They didn't have the mentality of safety.
00:03:44They were constantly aware of the hadith.
00:03:48So think about this hadith, where the Prophet ﷺ said,
00:03:54that there could be a person, in fact there is and are people,
00:04:00who do the deeds of the people of paradise,
00:04:06until they're almost a arm span or a hand span from entering the jannah.
00:04:14And then they do the deeds of the people of the hellfire, and they die upon that.
00:04:23And so they are dragged and taken to the hellfire.
00:04:28And there are some people that do the deeds of the people of the hellfire,
00:04:34until they've done so much, it's as if they're almost about to go to hell.
00:04:41And then the qadr of Allah, the decree of Allah, comes into effect,
00:04:48and they do the deeds of the people of paradise,
00:04:52and they die upon that, and they enter paradise.
00:04:57Don't think for a moment that you are free and safe,
00:05:05and that you're guaranteed to continue to do the deeds,
00:05:10if you are doing the deeds of the people of paradise.
00:05:14But rather fear that you are that person,
00:05:20who's doing all the deeds that would get someone into paradise.
00:05:25And then at one moment you might do the deeds of the people of hellfire and die upon that.
00:05:31Fear that reality.
00:05:33Because the Prophet shallallahu alaihi wa sallam said,
00:05:35this is a reality, there are people just like that,
00:05:40who told you you weren't one of them.
00:05:43And don't look at the people who are doing these evil deeds,
00:05:49and say he's damned, he's doomed.
00:05:53There is no safety for him, because he might be that other individual,
00:05:59that's doing the deeds of the people of the hellfire.
00:06:03And then at the last moment, right before he falls into the hellfire,
00:06:07he begins to do the deeds of the people of paradise,
00:06:10and he dies upon that, and he goes to jannah.
00:06:14Remember the story of the two people.
00:06:19They were neighbors, and one was an abid.
00:06:24He used to worship Allah correctly.
00:06:27And the other one was a fasiq, an open sinner.
00:06:32And he used to do the deeds that the people would do that would cause them to go to hell.
00:06:39And so the abid, he would notice him, and he would say to him,
00:06:43اتق الله, fear Allah, remember Allah, what are you doing?
00:06:50And the fasiq, he would say, mind your business.
00:06:55Have you been created to watch after me? Are you a reporter or something?
00:07:00Why are you worrying about me? Mind your business.
00:07:02خلي وربّي, leave me alone with my Lord.
00:07:07And this would go on, and it's stated that it goes on and it goes on for years,
00:07:12till finally one day the abid, he gets sick, he gets frustrated with this fasiq.
00:07:19And he says to him, لن يغفر الله لك أبدا. One sentence.
00:07:24لن يغفر الله لك أبدا. Allah will never forgive you for what you've done.
00:07:30You see the mentality?
00:07:33Make sure you don't have that mentality that you look at somebody else and say,
00:07:38Oh man, Allah is never gonna forgive him. He's going to hell.
00:07:43But this person had that mentality and Allah caused both of them to die.
00:07:48And when they both died, He raised them back up.
00:07:52And He went to the one who had done all this worship.
00:07:55And He said to him, Who gave you the authority to say what I'm gonna do?
00:08:03Who gave you the authority to say who I'm going to punish and who I'm going to forgive?
00:08:09Who I'm going to enter into the paradise and who I'm going to throw into hell?
00:08:14Verily, I have wiped away all your good deeds.
00:08:19And I have forgiven this other person.
00:08:23And he was dragged to the hellfire.
00:08:26And the other person was entered into the garden.
00:08:29This mentality of sanctimony is what has to be avoided from the believers.
00:08:36We can never feel that we are safe.
00:08:40And the Sahaba, رضي الله عنهم أجمعين.
00:08:43All of them were afraid of falling back into disbelief.
00:08:51They didn't walk around feeling safe.
00:08:55And if this is the best generation,
00:08:59the generation of people who have tazkiyah from Allah,
00:09:03who have a statement from Allah the Most High,
00:09:06who knows the inner secrets of our hearts,
00:09:09who's closer to us than our jugular vein with his knowledge.
00:09:13And he said, رضي الله عنهم.
00:09:16And they were still, may Allah be pleased with them,
00:09:19yet they were still afraid their entire lives that they might fall back into kufr.
00:09:29Where are you?
00:09:32Where are we?
00:09:35With our attitudes.
00:09:39So fear Allah.
00:09:41And be careful about what we say to other people
00:09:44and how we deal with other people.
00:09:47Because Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى
00:09:49might make us that person that falls into hell.
00:09:53Every time we begin these conversations,
00:09:56we begin with, إِنَّ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ
00:09:58and we go all the way to the end,
00:10:00explaining that the best speech is the speech of Allah.
00:10:03And the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad.
00:10:07We do this, صلى الله عليه وسلم,
00:10:09because this is the way the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم
00:10:14would begin his important speeches.
00:10:17And these gatherings that we have,
00:10:20as infrequent as they are,
00:10:23are very necessary and very important
00:10:26to receive the guidance of the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم.
00:10:31Because as we all know,
00:10:33the Prophets, they don't leave behind wealth.
00:10:37Not physical wealth of money and gems
00:10:41and these types of things.
00:10:42But what they leave behind is knowledge.
00:10:45And the purpose of that knowledge is to receive it
00:10:48and to use it to guide us through the difficulties
00:10:52and through the ease that we find in this world.
00:10:54Because Allah is testing us.
00:10:57And this is the purpose of this lecture tonight.
00:11:00This lecture is about coping.
00:11:02Coping with disasters.
00:11:04Coping with things that we don't like.
00:11:07When things don't go the way we like them to go.
00:11:12And it was very befitting
00:11:14that Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى
00:11:16made it that the electricity was cut off tonight
00:11:20when we came here.
00:11:22Because this is a perfect example
00:11:24of when people plan and Allah plans.
00:11:29And Allah is the best of planners.
00:11:32Our arrogance has no limits.
00:11:37What do I mean by that?
00:11:39We make plans as though we own something.
00:11:43But we don't own anything.
00:11:46And Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى
00:11:48is constantly checking us
00:11:50and showing to us and proving to us
00:11:53that we don't control nothing.
00:11:56Not even nothing.
00:11:58We can't make nothing.
00:12:02We don't even know how that can be configured.
00:12:06So we get very frustrated
00:12:09when things don't go according to our plan.
00:12:14But what is that frustration?
00:12:17That frustration,
00:12:19ikhwan, sisters and brothers,
00:12:22is just an expression of our misunderstanding
00:12:27of who owns what
00:12:30and who is in charge.
00:12:33We read in the Qur'an,
00:12:35well, let me back up.
00:12:38If someone were to disrespect you,
00:12:42you would say,
00:12:43who is he to do this to me?
00:12:45Doesn't he know who I am?
00:12:47This is the mentality.
00:12:49How could you do that to me?
00:12:52Stick out our chest.
00:12:54If your child or your brother or your colleagues,
00:12:58they don't give you what you consider,
00:13:01what you expect as proper respect,
00:13:05as a colleague, as a boss,
00:13:08as a supervisor, as a brother, as a student.
00:13:12Even if a senior treats you in a way
00:13:17and you're a junior,
00:13:18you feel that you have been disrespected.
00:13:21Because what you believe
00:13:23and what you see as your right,
00:13:26what you feel entitled to,
00:13:29but what belongs to Allah?
00:13:32What isn't Allah entitled to?
00:13:35He is fa'alun lima yureed.
00:13:39So we have to understand He does whatever He wants.
00:13:42Inna lillah, we belong to Allah.
00:13:47So we have to put things in their proper context
00:13:50and understand what our role is
00:13:53in this whole existence.
00:13:56Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has told us,
00:13:59وَمَا خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالْإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونَ
00:14:04I have not created the men or the genies and the men
00:14:10except for them to worship me.
00:14:13Now what is this worship?
00:14:15We say this word in English,
00:14:17worship.
00:14:19What does that mean?
00:14:21In the Arabic language we call it ibadah.
00:14:25Ibadah is from the word abd.
00:14:28Abd is to be a slave.
00:14:31So ibadah is not just worship,
00:14:34it's better translated as slavery.
00:14:38This is what ibadah is.
00:14:40We are in a slavery that we volunteer for.
00:14:46By our shahadah we take a contract.
00:14:49Allah has promised us that if we give our life,
00:14:52if we give our wealth,
00:14:54if we give our time, our energy,
00:14:56He will give us Jannah.
00:14:58That's our agreement.
00:15:00And during this agreement,
00:15:02we have promised and sworn
00:15:05to be the slaves
00:15:07and to be in the sense of slavery for our Lord.
00:15:11And the slave doesn't control his time, does he?
00:15:15I'm asking you.
00:15:17The slave does whatever his Lord wants him to do.
00:15:20If he wants him to stop in the middle of a job
00:15:22and do something else, then he has to stop.
00:15:24He cannot care about what that job was doing.
00:15:27He has to stop whatever he's doing
00:15:29and do what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
00:15:31or whatever his Lord wants him to do.
00:15:33Understanding that he's not the finishing of the job
00:15:36that he's trying to please,
00:15:38but he's trying to please his Lord
00:15:40by doing whatever his Lord would have him do
00:15:43at that moment.
00:15:46And Allah has told us,
00:15:58He says, without doubt,
00:16:03this statement is full of emphasis.
00:16:08Without doubt, for sure,
00:16:11any type of emphasis you'd like to put on the language,
00:16:15it's doubly emphasized here.
00:16:18Allah is saying, I am testing you.
00:16:22Why is He telling us that?
00:16:24He's telling you that so that when something happens,
00:16:29something happens that you don't like,
00:16:33you want to know, who's doing this to me?
00:16:35Who did that?
00:16:36If my wife removes something from my desk,
00:16:39I want to know, who took that off my desk?
00:16:42If I think my child did it,
00:16:44I want to test as a child for touching my things
00:16:47and tell them they're not supposed to do it.
00:16:49But if it's my father,
00:16:51then I say, who did that?
00:16:52Your father.
00:16:53I have to be quiet, right?
00:16:55I can't get upset.
00:16:57It's my father's desk anyway.
00:16:59He can do whatever he wants to with my desk.
00:17:01It's his.
00:17:03The property of the child belongs to the father.
00:17:06We know this in sharia.
00:17:08So I cannot get upset.
00:17:10So Allah is letting us know.
00:17:12We believe in Allah, right?
00:17:14And His books, His angels, His books.
00:17:17What else?
00:17:19What do you believe?
00:17:21Sorry?
00:17:23We said, we believe in Allah,
00:17:25the angels, His books, His messengers.
00:17:29What else?
00:17:30The last day.
00:17:31And what else?
00:17:33The qadr.
00:17:35The qadr of Allah.
00:17:37The decree of Allah,
00:17:38what's been preordained,
00:17:39what's been ordered and commanded to happen
00:17:42no matter what.
00:17:43And we say,
00:17:45some people say the good of it and the evil of it,
00:17:47but it's all good.
00:17:49A better translation of it is,
00:17:51the sweet and the bitter.
00:17:54Because some things happen
00:17:56and they look like there's something that's bad,
00:17:58but it's just bitter.
00:18:00And some medicine is bitter.
00:18:03It's not evil.
00:18:05A person may break his leg
00:18:07and he may think it's a bad thing,
00:18:09but that breaking his leg may lead him to jannah.
00:18:12That breaking his leg may lead him to jannah.
00:18:15Because this is what Allah decreed for him to happen
00:18:17at that particular moment.
00:18:18And we learn that when we read
00:18:20the story of Musa
00:18:22when he was with Qadr.
00:18:24In surah Tukaf every week.
00:18:26When the man came and Qadr put a hole in the boat,
00:18:30it looks like he's destroying the people's property.
00:18:33He's stopping them from going to work that day.
00:18:36That looks like a negative action.
00:18:38But the day they stand there fixing their boat
00:18:41is the day that the king is on the road
00:18:43in the waters taking everybody's boat that's out there.
00:18:47So in actuality,
00:18:49that hardship,
00:18:50that seemingly wrong action
00:18:53becomes a beneficial action
00:18:55because of the Qadr of Allah.
00:18:56So we have to number one, accept.
00:18:58When we say we believe in the Qadr of Allah,
00:19:01that there is wisdom.
00:19:04There is wisdom and there is goodness
00:19:07in everything that happens to us.
00:19:09Whether it's sweet or bitter,
00:19:12none of it is evil.
00:19:14It's either sweet, we like it,
00:19:17or it's bitter, something we don't like.
00:19:20And Allah's messenger taught us this particular point.
00:19:24When he told us,
00:19:26I'm amazed with the situation of the believer.
00:19:30If something happens and he likes it,
00:19:32he says,
00:19:33الحمد لله.
00:19:36And then if something happens that he doesn't like,
00:19:39he says,
00:19:40الحمد لله.
00:19:42And this is only the case for the believer.
00:19:46So how do we cope?
00:19:47How do we put this into practicality?
00:19:50Let's go back to the first ayah.
00:19:53وَلَنَبْلُونَّكُمْ
00:19:54Allah is telling you, He's testing you.
00:19:57Allah is testing you.
00:20:00You, anything that happens,
00:20:02believe it's from Allah.
00:20:04Don't get mad at anybody.
00:20:06If you get mad,
00:20:07you know what you're really getting mad at?
00:20:09You're really getting mad at Allah.
00:20:11تَسَوَّرُوا ذَلِكَ
00:20:13Think about that.
00:20:14Picture that.
00:20:16You're getting angry at Allah
00:20:18because Allah has told you in the Qur'an,
00:20:22I am testing you.
00:20:24How is He testing you?
00:20:26بِشَيْئٍ
00:20:27With something.
00:20:28مِنَ الْخَوْف
00:20:29So He's giving you this خوف.
00:20:30What is خوف?
00:20:31Some people translate it as fear.
00:20:33This is the base meaning.
00:20:36But what it is, is anxieties, stress.
00:20:41Because fear can be translated a number of different ways.
00:20:45Fear has been translated as F-E-A-R.
00:20:48False evidence accepted as reality.
00:20:51Okay?
00:20:52So we see things,
00:20:53we think that it's in a particular way,
00:20:55and we accept it as our reality.
00:20:57This is the definition of stress.
00:21:00Worrying about something that hasn't even happened,
00:21:04and may not actually happen.
00:21:08So we're worried about this thing.
00:21:10This is anxiety.
00:21:13This is all it is, anxiety.
00:21:15And our anxieties are fed
00:21:17with the propagandas of the world
00:21:19and these different things.
00:21:20There are things that increase our stress,
00:21:23increase our fear.
00:21:26But the believer, he doesn't have to fear.
00:21:29He recognizes that this is just a test.
00:21:34To see what?
00:21:36To see if I'm going to be grateful
00:21:39or impatient and ungrateful.
00:21:43If I'm going to become irritated,
00:21:45or I'm going to calm down and remember.
00:21:48ذكر
00:21:49If I'm going to remember,
00:21:50become conscious, متقي.
00:21:53And remember,
00:21:55oh, this is just Allah testing me
00:21:58as He promised that He is going to test me.
00:22:03With what? خوف
00:22:05وَلَنَبَلُ وَنَّكُمْ بِشَيْءٍ مِّنَ الْجُوعِ
00:22:08Hunger.
00:22:09This hunger that we have in our stomach,
00:22:11it's not just hunger in the stomach,
00:22:13it's desire.
00:22:15What do we say when someone strives hard for something?
00:22:18We say he's hungry.
00:22:19He really desires it.
00:22:21He really wants it.
00:22:22So Allah is going to give us something.
00:22:24Can you eat everything you see?
00:22:26No.
00:22:27They say that pork, swine,
00:22:30is the tastiest meat in the world.
00:22:33I believe them.
00:22:34It probably is the tastiest meat in the world.
00:22:38Does it stop it from being haram?
00:22:41It would be part of the test to make it so delicious, right?
00:22:44To make it even more challenging
00:22:47for the people not to eat it.
00:22:49But who has a desire from the believers to eat swine?
00:22:52No one.
00:22:54So it being tasty has no value to us because it is haram.
00:23:00And likewise, just because you get hungry
00:23:03does not mean you eat anything.
00:23:05So Allah is testing us with our desires,
00:23:08with our hungers,
00:23:09to see if we're going to satisfy these hungers
00:23:13in ways that Allah has prescribed.
00:23:16So you're hungry, you want to get married, then get married.
00:23:19You don't go out and have illicit relationships.
00:23:23So you're hungry for money, you don't go out and steal
00:23:26or take riba.
00:23:28You rather take the means, the asbab,
00:23:31the ways of getting wealth.
00:23:34The first of them is fearing Allah, remembering Allah.
00:23:40So He's testing us with hunger,
00:23:42He's testing us with fear, these anxieties.
00:23:45وَلَنَبْنُوا أَنَّكُمْ بِشَيْءٍ مِّنَ الْجُوعِ وَالْخَوْفِ وَنَقْسٍ مِّنَ الْأَمْوَارِ
00:23:49We're getting a reduction of our wealth.
00:23:52We lose.
00:23:53We did everything right.
00:23:55Just imagine, you did everything the way it was supposed to.
00:23:58You feared Allah.
00:24:00You took the ways that business means to get some money.
00:24:03You did sadaqah.
00:24:05You did everything right,
00:24:07and you still lost some of your investment.
00:24:11And you want to know, what's wrong?
00:24:14What did I do wrong?
00:24:16You didn't do anything wrong, probably.
00:24:19But does that mean you're not going to be tested?
00:24:23Does it mean that only Allah loves you
00:24:26when He gives you all the things?
00:24:28Is this the mentality?
00:24:30When He extends to you,
00:24:32you say, my Lord loves me.
00:24:34When He takes away and restricts it,
00:24:36you say, ahan, ahan, He has humiliated me.
00:24:39Is this our mentality?
00:24:41No.
00:24:42May Allah protect us from this.
00:24:44But rather our mentality should be
00:24:47that we expect these things to happen.
00:24:50Why? Because Allah has promised them to happen.
00:24:54And He's emphasized the fact that He is going to test us
00:24:58with a reduction of our wealth.
00:25:00We're going to lose out sometimes in business
00:25:03to no fault of our own.
00:25:06But how many times have we gotten an increase
00:25:10to no fault of our own?
00:25:12Meaning, we didn't do anything to get the increase,
00:25:14but we got increase.
00:25:16We don't be complaining when that happens.
00:25:19We're very happy.
00:25:21So likewise, these other things are going to happen.
00:25:25Also,
00:25:30And we're going to lose our loved ones.
00:25:33Deaths.
00:25:34And not just deaths.
00:25:36You know, a lot of times parents,
00:25:39they're very happy to have a child.
00:25:42But what happens when your child has birth defects?
00:25:45What happens when your child dies,
00:25:47which you think is a premature death?
00:25:50It's not premature.
00:25:51Allah's Messenger ﷺ told us
00:25:53that before everyone is born,
00:25:56what's written on their neck,
00:25:58the time frame that they're going to live.
00:26:01So when a child is taken from this earth,
00:26:04it's not premature.
00:26:06He didn't have a premature death.
00:26:08He died on time.
00:26:11He got hit by a car.
00:26:12May Allah protect our children from that.
00:26:14Or something devastating happened to the child.
00:26:17He got sick and died.
00:26:19May Allah protect our children from these things.
00:26:21But if it happens,
00:26:22it happened because Allah wanted it to happen.
00:26:25And we have to accept that
00:26:27who gave you that child took that child back.
00:26:29Inna lillah.
00:26:31We belong to Allah.
00:26:34And as the property of Allah,
00:26:37He can do fa'alun lima yureed.
00:26:39He can do whatever He wants to His property.
00:26:44And we should not have the arrogant mentality
00:26:48to feel that Allah doesn't have a right
00:26:52to do whatever He wants.
00:26:54Just think as you many fathers.
00:26:56How many times do you see something with your child
00:26:59and you take it away from them?
00:27:01Because you don't like the way
00:27:03it is looking on the child
00:27:05or the way the child is playing with that particular thing.
00:27:07Or you just don't feel that
00:27:09that child should have that particular thing.
00:27:11You might have given it to them
00:27:13vicariously through your wife
00:27:15or from your relatives or something.
00:27:17But it's your child.
00:27:18And no one dare tell you
00:27:20what you can and cannot do with your child.
00:27:22How much greater
00:27:24is the right of Allah who created you
00:27:27and gave you everything
00:27:30including the breath of air
00:27:32that you're breathing right now
00:27:33that you rarely even think about.
00:27:36That you rarely even think.
00:27:38How many times you count your breaths
00:27:40or you're conscious
00:27:42of how many breaths you take even in a minute.
00:27:45But each one of them
00:27:48is the smallest ni'mah
00:27:51that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has given you.
00:27:54It's related that a man heard a mountain
00:27:59full of good deeds.
00:28:01It's presented Yawm al-Qiyamah
00:28:03and the angels say to him,
00:28:05Would you like to enter into the garden
00:28:08by the ni'mah, the mercy of Allah
00:28:10or would you like to enter in through your deeds?
00:28:13The man looks at his mountain of good deeds
00:28:15and he says, you know,
00:28:16why don't I just go in by my deeds
00:28:19to see where I go, okay?
00:28:21I got all these mountains,
00:28:22I wanna see where it's gonna get me on this.
00:28:24So then Allah says, okay,
00:28:26put all his mountains of good deeds
00:28:28on one side of the scale
00:28:30and take his eyes and put them on the other side.
00:28:33As soon as his eyes touch the scale,
00:28:36the mountain flies.
00:28:39The ni'mah of his eyes,
00:28:43he can't even pay for that
00:28:45with all the good deeds that he's done.
00:28:48Because we have to pay for this life.
00:28:52It's not just free.
00:28:55We've been given this soul.
00:28:57We've been given this heart
00:28:59and we have to come on Yawm al-Qiyamah
00:29:02and get our souls out of the pond.
00:29:06How are we gonna do it?
00:29:08It's not your deeds,
00:29:09it's only by the mercy of Allah.
00:29:11Even the Prophet ﷺ
00:29:13said that he won't get into the paradise
00:29:15except by the mercy of Allah.
00:29:17So what's the purpose of the good deeds then, right?
00:29:21We're trying to prove to Allah that we want it.
00:29:24We're trying to show effort.
00:29:27Even though we feel, you know you see that child,
00:29:30he's trying real hard but he can't really make it.
00:29:33But he's trying, you give him an A for effort.
00:29:36And then you see that other child
00:29:37who has all the physical and mental capabilities
00:29:40but he's not really trying, you give him a C.
00:29:42You push him back because he's not trying.
00:29:45He's not trying.
00:29:46That's the example of us.
00:29:49We know, Allah knows
00:29:51that we cannot make it with our good deeds.
00:29:54But you better try.
00:29:56You better try to prove it to him
00:29:58that you want it and that you deserve it.
00:30:00And you're wanting his mercy.
00:30:02And that's the purpose of the good deeds.
00:30:05So Allah is telling us,
00:30:08وَلَنَبْلُ وَنَّكُمْ بِشَيْءٍ مِّنَ الْخَوْفِ وَالْجُرْعِ وَنَقْسٍ مِّنَ الْأَمْوَالِ وَالْأَنفُسِ وَالْثَّمَرَاتِ وَبَشِّرِ السَّابِرِينَ
00:30:16And give glad tidings
00:30:18to those who are diligent, who are patient.
00:30:22What is patience now?
00:30:23Because we have this term
00:30:25in the English language, patience.
00:30:29But we think
00:30:31that patience is just sitting there doing nothing,
00:30:34waiting,
00:30:35like you're waiting for the bus
00:30:37for something to come by
00:30:38and all of a sudden, you know,
00:30:40this mentality of Cinderella,
00:30:42someone's gonna ride in on a white horse
00:30:45and save the day,
00:30:46this Superman mentality.
00:30:48No.
00:30:50This is not the case.
00:30:51We learn
00:30:53from the story of Musa
00:30:55that there's not one person
00:30:57that can come and save the whole nation.
00:31:00The people have to be ready.
00:31:02One of the benefits we get out of the story of Musa,
00:31:05now the Prophet Musa a.s.
00:31:08was one of the best prophets ever.
00:31:10وَلِلْعَزْمِ مِّنْهُمْ
00:31:12He's one of the strongest five prophets.
00:31:16How come he couldn't get his people to the promised land?
00:31:19Does anybody know?
00:31:21Why did Musa, when the angel of death come,
00:31:25he punched the angel of death in the eye
00:31:28and knocked his eye out?
00:31:30And the angel of death went back to Allah
00:31:32and said,
00:31:33You see what your prophet did to me?
00:31:35He knocked my eye out.
00:31:37Why did that happen?
00:31:39Because we hear this story
00:31:40but many people don't know the secret behind it.
00:31:43Allah took the eye of the angel of death
00:31:46and he put it back in.
00:31:48And he told him,
00:31:49Go back and tell Musa it's time to go.
00:31:52So what had happened was
00:31:54the angel of death came to Musa a.s.
00:31:57and he said,
00:31:58It's time to go.
00:32:00And Musa said,
00:32:01No, not yet.
00:32:03I want to guide my people to the promised land.
00:32:07I'm their prophet.
00:32:09I'm their guide.
00:32:10That was my job.
00:32:12Let me take them.
00:32:13He said,
00:32:14No, it's time for you to go.
00:32:16He said,
00:32:17Let me die close to the promised land.
00:32:21Angel of death said,
00:32:22No, Musa, it's time to go.
00:32:25Musa has a hot temper.
00:32:27He hit the angel and said,
00:32:28No, let me take my people.
00:32:31So then when the angel of death came back from Allah
00:32:34and explained to Musa,
00:32:37No, Allah did not give you permission
00:32:39to take your people to the promised land.
00:32:42Why?
00:32:43They're not ready.
00:32:45It's not that you're not ready, Musa.
00:32:48They're not ready.
00:32:51And so Allah is teaching us a lesson.
00:32:53He made everyone of the people of Bani Israel
00:32:57that were living in subjugation under Fir'aun.
00:33:01And so they had lost their manhood.
00:33:04They had lost their drive to strive.
00:33:07He made every last one of them die in the desert.
00:33:11And He made a new generation raise up.
00:33:14They were born in the desert.
00:33:17Those were the ones that entered into the promised land.
00:33:20And even the Prophet Musa and Harun died
00:33:24before they entered.
00:33:25But the message for us is this,
00:33:27Don't wait for a man or someone to come
00:33:31and do something for you.
00:33:33Patience is not waiting.
00:33:35Patience is complaining to Allah.
00:33:38That's one aspect of patience.
00:33:41As we see what happened to Ya'qub,
00:33:43when his son was taken,
00:33:46you talk about coping with difficulties.
00:33:49Ya'qub Israel, the Nabi of Allah,
00:33:52he knew from the beginning of this life of Yusuf
00:33:56that his son was going to be a prophet.
00:34:00So when his brothers come back
00:34:02with this shirt that has blood on it,
00:34:05do you know how another reason why Ya'qub knew
00:34:08that this wasn't the blood of Yusuf?
00:34:12The brothers as deviant as they were,
00:34:14they weren't really good criminals.
00:34:17They forgot to rip the shirt.
00:34:20They made Yusuf take the shirt off.
00:34:22They put blood on it,
00:34:24but there was no tear in it.
00:34:26If a wolf ate him,
00:34:28the shirt would be destroyed.
00:34:30Is that right?
00:34:31It would be ripped.
00:34:32Yusuf was always tried with his shirt.
00:34:35Because at the other time,
00:34:36the woman of Aziz ripped his shirt from behind.
00:34:40And then the next time,
00:34:41he sends his shirt to his father's face
00:34:43and throws it on his face.
00:34:44So he and his father knew
00:34:46that this was not the blood of Yusuf
00:34:48and that Yusuf was not eaten by a wolf
00:34:50because the shirt was not ripped.
00:34:51Now why am I mentioning that?
00:34:53Coping with difficulties.
00:34:56He knew that his son,
00:34:59something had happened to him,
00:35:00he didn't know what,
00:35:01but he knew his son was alive.
00:35:03He knew his sons were lying.
00:35:07And he knew his son would live
00:35:10to become a prophet
00:35:11because he himself was a prophet
00:35:13and the promise of Allah was true.
00:35:15He had revelation
00:35:16and knew that Yusuf was going to be a prophet.
00:35:20So for 40 years,
00:35:23some ulama say 80 years,
00:35:26Ya'qub lived not hearing a word from his son,
00:35:33not knowing what had happened to his son,
00:35:36but understanding that this was in the plan of Allah.
00:35:40And so he dealt with it.
00:35:42And he kept it concealed
00:35:45because he did not want to give up the secret of Allah.
00:35:48But he told his sons,
00:35:49I know what y'all don't know.
00:35:52I know something that y'all don't know.
00:35:55And he's dealing with the secret.
00:35:57Then he comes back,
00:35:58his second son is taken.
00:36:00And his third son doesn't come back
00:36:02because when Benjamin goes,
00:36:05Yusuf takes him.
00:36:07And when they're going back,
00:36:08Reuben, the oldest one says,
00:36:10I'm not going back.
00:36:12I'm not going back after this.
00:36:14He didn't trust his own brother.
00:36:15He said, don't y'all know what y'all did to Yusuf before?
00:36:18Are y'all playing games?
00:36:20And they said, no, we didn't do it.
00:36:22He said, well, I'm not going back
00:36:23till my father gives me permission
00:36:25or I find another way
00:36:27to get my brother out of this situation.
00:36:30So now Ya'qub has three sons missing.
00:36:34When he's sitting there
00:36:35and he's trying to deal with this,
00:36:37and this is when he goes blind.
00:36:40People think it's just Yusuf.
00:36:42But now he's missing three sons.
00:36:46The anguish that this man is feeling.
00:36:49And he never complained to a human being.
00:36:54He never complained to one person.
00:36:58And in his anguish,
00:37:00they said, what's wrong with you, old man?
00:37:02You're gonna eat yourself up with this anguish.
00:37:04He said, I'm only complaining to Allah.
00:37:08So we learned from this
00:37:09that patience is complaining to Allah.
00:37:13Why?
00:37:14Allah did it.
00:37:17Allah is the one that did it.
00:37:20قَدَّرَ اللَّهُ وَمَا شَاءَ فَأَنْ
00:37:24It is the decree of Allah.
00:37:26What Allah has decreed
00:37:28and what He wanted happened.
00:37:31So you go to the one that is in control
00:37:35and you plead to the king of all kings
00:37:39and you ask him with definitiveness.
00:37:42You ask him with firmness.
00:37:45عَغِثُونِ
00:37:47Save me, help me, give me.
00:37:50And it's very difficult to complain to Allah.
00:37:54You know why?
00:37:56Because when we turn our mouths up
00:37:59to complain to Allah,
00:38:00we have to take into consideration
00:38:02everything we did to get into the situation.
00:38:07Do you understand what I said?
00:38:09Most of the difficulties
00:38:12that we find ourselves in
00:38:14is due to our own stinking sins.
00:38:19Allah tells us that,
00:38:21وَيَعْفُونَ كَفِيرً
00:38:23And He forgives and wipes away much.
00:38:26But all the situations pretty much
00:38:28that we find ourselves in
00:38:30are attached to our own sinning.
00:38:34So when we turn to Allah and say,
00:38:35Oh Allah, you know what I...
00:38:37Well, you know what I did
00:38:39to get... What can you say?
00:38:42Well, you know Allah, I've been trying real...
00:38:44No, you haven't been trying.
00:38:46You can't lie.
00:38:48You can lie to me, you can lie to your friend,
00:38:50but you can't lie to Allah.
00:38:52You can even lie to yourself.
00:38:53But when you turn yourself up to Allah,
00:38:55you know Allah is عَلِمُ الْغَيْبُ وَالشَّهَادَةُ
00:38:58He knows all the secrets of the seeing things
00:39:00and things that other people don't see.
00:39:02He knows what's in your heart.
00:39:05You can't open your mouth and really say anything.
00:39:09You can't say that Allah is treating you unfair.
00:39:14All you can do
00:39:17instead of complaining is beg.
00:39:20Beg Allah.
00:39:21Beg Allah.
00:39:22Because when you come back, we call this اعتراف.
00:39:25See, in Islam,
00:39:27when something difficult happens,
00:39:30it leads us, if you're rightly minded,
00:39:33to tawbah.
00:39:35Do you understand what I'm saying?
00:39:37Because when you turn yourself up
00:39:39to complain to Allah,
00:39:41you find you have nothing to complain about.
00:39:45You have nothing to complain about.
00:39:47Number one, Allah is testing you.
00:39:49He's promised you to test.
00:39:51أَحَسِبَ النَّاسُ أَن يُطْرَكُوا أَن يَقُولُوا آمَنًا وَهُمْ لَا يُفْتَنُونَ
00:39:55Does people think that they're gonna say,
00:39:57we believe and they're not gonna be tested?
00:39:59Are you tested?
00:40:01Yes, you're going to be tested.
00:40:03And we definitely tested everybody that came before you.
00:40:07This is what Allah tells you in the Qur'an.
00:40:08Now, if you believe in the Qur'an,
00:40:10it always goes back to belief.
00:40:12If you believe in the Qur'an,
00:40:13then know that you are gonna be tested.
00:40:15Expect it.
00:40:16Embrace it.
00:40:17Because if you embrace it,
00:40:18it's an opportunity for you.
00:40:20And Allah says,
00:40:21We will make it known.
00:40:22وَلَيَعْلَمَنَّ اللَّهُ
00:40:24Allah will make it known.
00:40:25Not that Allah doesn't know.
00:40:27Allah says,
00:40:28He will make it known.
00:40:29Why?
00:40:30So you can't say,
00:40:31يَوْمُ قِيَامًا
00:40:32If you'd have tried me,
00:40:33I would have done such.
00:40:34No.
00:40:35Allah makes it known here.
00:40:37حُجَّةُ اللَّهَ عَلَى الْإِنسَانِ
00:40:39It's the proof of Allah.
00:40:40The proof is in the pudding.
00:40:41The proof is in the actions.
00:40:43Allah tested you and you did this.
00:40:45So يَوْمُ قِيَامًا
00:40:47You can't say,
00:40:48See Allah, I was a believer.
00:40:49No.
00:40:51If you'd have just tested me,
00:40:52you would have found.
00:40:53No.
00:40:54Allah tests.
00:40:55He tests.
00:40:56And He said,
00:40:57He will make it clear.
00:40:58He will make it known.
00:41:00Those people who are truthful,
00:41:02who are honest to their pledge.
00:41:05Their pledge of allegiance to Allah and His Messenger.
00:41:08And He'll make it clear.
00:41:09Those people who are liars.
00:41:11They're perpetrating a fraud.
00:41:13There's a defect
00:41:15in their construction.
00:41:17And Allah's gonna extract and bring that defect out.
00:41:20You see some people, we say,
00:41:22they're a handspan
00:41:24into entering Jannah.
00:41:26What's the justice of Allah throwing them in hell
00:41:29if they did all these good deeds
00:41:31and they're almost about to enter the paradise
00:41:33and they fall into hell.
00:41:34Allah knew they were defective from the beginning.
00:41:37Allah knew there was a defect in their character,
00:41:41in their soul.
00:41:43And every defect, ya Ikhwan,
00:41:46every single one starts as a defect in the heart.
00:41:49It's internal.
00:41:51And then it's internal defect
00:41:53acts itself out externally.
00:41:55So the reading of the Qur'an
00:41:58is the thing, it enlightens the heart.
00:42:00It purifies the heart.
00:42:02It's cleaning the heart.
00:42:04And takes care of these defects
00:42:06that constantly get in the heart.
00:42:08And they get in the heart from your hearing,
00:42:10from your looking,
00:42:11from your talking,
00:42:12from your experiences of the dunya,
00:42:14from the shaitan you are,
00:42:15sufi, suduri, nas.
00:42:17And tricks you into thinking that it's you.
00:42:21So Allah knows these defects
00:42:23and He is not unjust.
00:42:25So He brings out the defect of the slave
00:42:29and gives him what he desired,
00:42:30what he deserves.
00:42:32So what happens to the believer?
00:42:35He's constantly cleaning that thing,
00:42:38that heart.
00:42:40He's constantly trying to purify his heart
00:42:43so that it'll be strong enough
00:42:45to take the test.
00:42:47Because you talk to yourself,
00:42:49don't you know that?
00:42:51Who talks to themselves?
00:42:52Raise your hand if you talk to yourself.
00:42:53Who are you talking to?
00:42:56What is talking?
00:42:59We call it cognitive dissidence.
00:43:03Okay?
00:43:04What this is, you have an ego.
00:43:06It's here, your mind,
00:43:08what you think, how you figure.
00:43:11And then you have the heart.
00:43:13And this is your spiritual home.
00:43:15التقوى هاهونا
00:43:18What did the prophet say?
00:43:19التقوى هاهونا
00:43:21وأشار إلى صدره ثلاثة
00:43:23He pointed to his chest three times.
00:43:26تقوى is here in your heart.
00:43:30So if your heart is strong,
00:43:31when you start to have that conversation
00:43:34with your heart,
00:43:35your heart is gonna say,
00:43:36You know what?
00:43:37You're wrong.
00:43:38You're gonna say,
00:43:39Yeah, but everybody's doing it.
00:43:40You start making excuses.
00:43:41We have to.
00:43:42It's raining or this,
00:43:43whatever the excuse may be
00:43:44that we come up with.
00:43:45We're trying to convince our heart.
00:43:47If we do not convince our heart,
00:43:49what is the action?
00:43:50The action doesn't have any spirit.
00:43:53And when we see the action,
00:43:54we say,
00:43:55Oh, his heart is not into it.
00:43:57You get it?
00:43:59Because he knows there's a pull.
00:44:01There's a fight inside himself.
00:44:03This is مجاهدة
00:44:05This is the jihad of the body,
00:44:08the jihad of the soul
00:44:10that you're in every day.
00:44:12And the only way for the heart to win
00:44:14is if you give it da'wah,
00:44:16the da'wah of the Qur'an,
00:44:18the da'wah of the sunnah.
00:44:20And it strengthens the heart
00:44:21and allows it to overwhelm this faulty ego,
00:44:25this over-entitled child
00:44:28who thinks he deserves something.
00:44:31And that's why we say,
00:44:32we seek refuge in Allah
00:44:33from the evils of our own ego
00:44:36and the evil results of our deeds.
00:44:39But the rightly guided one,
00:44:42the rightly guided one
00:44:43when something happens
00:44:44that he does not like,
00:44:48he becomes patient.
00:44:49What is his patience again?
00:44:51He turns to complain to the one
00:44:53who caused it to happen
00:44:54when he can't complain
00:44:56because he becomes to the point
00:44:57of recognizing his own role
00:45:01in the situation.
00:45:02Then he says,
00:45:03اعترف بذنبي.
00:45:05I now recognize.
00:45:08ظلمت نفسي.
00:45:10I have oppressed myself.
00:45:12Because the spirit of evil,
00:45:14this is the trick of shaitan, ya ikhwan,
00:45:18is that dhul,
00:45:20it comes back, oppression,
00:45:22it comes back as dhulumat,
00:45:25as darkness on the path
00:45:26on yawm al-qiyamah.
00:45:29Yawm al-qiyamah, the path over jannah,
00:45:31over the nahr, over the fire,
00:45:33is thin as a hair,
00:45:36sharp as a sword.
00:45:38There are swinging hooks on chains
00:45:41going back and forth
00:45:43and it's snatching people off that path,
00:45:45cutting them.
00:45:46Sometimes they can get back on the path,
00:45:48sometimes it drops them
00:45:49in the hellfire forever.
00:45:52So on that path,
00:45:54every dhulm that you do in this dunya,
00:45:57if you don't seek tawbah
00:45:59and follow it up with a good deed
00:46:01and wipe it out
00:46:02and istighfar,
00:46:04it shows up on that path as dark patches.
00:46:07Can you imagine that?
00:46:09Trying to get across that path
00:46:11on yawm al-qiyamah,
00:46:13your final run.
00:46:15All the effort that you spent in this dunya
00:46:17preparing yourself.
00:46:19And you look at a boxer,
00:46:21he's running, he's doing his taking hits,
00:46:23he's preparing himself for this fight, right?
00:46:25The championship fight.
00:46:26This is your championship run.
00:46:29This is your opportunity.
00:46:31Jannah's on the other side.
00:46:34And now you put obstacles in the way.
00:46:38You put dark patches
00:46:41that give you the opportunity
00:46:42to fall into the hellfire on that time
00:46:44and the path is very thin.
00:46:47Shaitan is a trickster.
00:46:50He tells you just do it.
00:46:53He tells you you deserve better.
00:46:56He tells you to oppress your soul
00:46:59so when something happens to you,
00:47:02instead of you recognizing
00:47:04where you play a role in the event,
00:47:09you blame somebody else.
00:47:12You oppress your soul.
00:47:14And this is why people fall into depression.
00:47:18I mentioned cognitive dissonance.
00:47:20I'm gonna mention Yusuf,
00:47:21I'm Yunus, remind me if I don't.
00:47:24Cognitive dissonance leads to depression
00:47:27because if your heart is not involved,
00:47:30what happens?
00:47:31There's lust, there's a lack of luster.
00:47:34You fail to thrive.
00:47:37You get in a deep depression.
00:47:40Food loses its taste.
00:47:42The sun no longer shines for you.
00:47:44This depression.
00:47:45Why this depression?
00:47:47Because you have failed to recognize
00:47:49your role in the society.
00:47:51You failed to recognize
00:47:53your role in the equation.
00:47:55You failed to recognize your sins,
00:47:58hence to seek the forgiveness of Allah.
00:48:00What happened to Yunus?
00:48:03We listened in the salah,
00:48:04اذ ابقى, when he ran away.
00:48:07And Allah put himself on a ship.
00:48:10And Allah caused him to be swallowed by a whale.
00:48:12What did he say?
00:48:14ظلمتني وظلمت نفسي.
00:48:16ولم تكفرني ورحمني.
00:48:18لكنت من ظالمين.
00:48:20Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us
00:48:22that he says,
00:48:23I have ظلمت نفسي.
00:48:25I have oppressed myself.
00:48:27So we learned from this prophet what to do.
00:48:30A musiba happened to him.
00:48:32He got swallowed by a whale.
00:48:35Or a big fish.
00:48:37We say whale because it's the biggest fish we know.
00:48:40But he got swallowed by this thing.
00:48:42The acid from the stomach is burning his skin off.
00:48:47And he's sitting in there saying,
00:48:49I have oppressed myself.
00:48:53If you don't forgive me and have mercy on me,
00:48:56I'm gonna be one of the zalmi.
00:48:57I'll be one of the oppressors.
00:49:00I have wronged myself.
00:49:02And he kept repeating this over and over again.
00:49:07And this is what our situation is.
00:49:10Constantly we're oppressing ourselves.
00:49:14And the only thing that we need to do
00:49:16is as Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says,
00:49:18وَبَشِّرِ الصَّابِرِينَ
00:49:21Give glad tidings to those who are diligent,
00:49:23who are persistent,
00:49:24who are constantly remembering Allah.
00:49:27Patience is just complaining to Allah
00:49:29and being diligent, persistent.
00:49:32Constantly working towards that particular effort that you'd like.
00:49:37Whatever that thing is.
00:49:38I'm not just talking about patience
00:49:39when a hardship comes.
00:49:40Patience in any endeavor is to be consistent at the thing.
00:49:44Whether you fail or not,
00:49:45you continue to strive.
00:49:47Because we learn from the story of the man
00:49:49that killed a hundred people.
00:49:51Everybody familiar with that story?
00:49:53This man, he lived in a corrupt society.
00:49:56We just go through basics of the story.
00:49:58He lived in a corrupt society.
00:50:01And in the society, he killed people.
00:50:04It's like kill or be killed.
00:50:06In Bed-Stuy, in my old neighborhood,
00:50:08they say Bed-Stuy, do or die.
00:50:11You fight or you die.
00:50:12That's the way it is.
00:50:14What do you do in that situation?
00:50:16Okay?
00:50:17What do you do?
00:50:18You do or die.
00:50:19So he lived in this corrupt society
00:50:21where he killed people.
00:50:23And he killed 99 people.
00:50:26And a lot of people don't take into consideration.
00:50:28They say, why did he kill the hundred one?
00:50:30You think it's legal to kill?
00:50:31Killing has never been legal.
00:50:34Murder is murder all throughout time.
00:50:37Even the first son of Adam,
00:50:39when he killed his brother,
00:50:40he carried his brother on his back
00:50:43because he didn't know what to do with him.
00:50:44He wanted to hide the shame.
00:50:46But since he was the first murderer,
00:50:48he didn't know what to do
00:50:49until he saw the raven, the crow,
00:50:51pecking at the ground.
00:50:53Then he knew to hide the body
00:50:55and to bury it.
00:50:56And we've been burying ever since.
00:50:59So here, this guy was a murderer
00:51:02with 99 bodies.
00:51:05So he goes and he exposes his murder
00:51:08to some guy who's appalled.
00:51:11What? You killed 99 people?
00:51:13Allah will never forgive you.
00:51:14Are you crazy?
00:51:16He has to kill that man.
00:51:19He has to.
00:51:20That's the law of the street.
00:51:22Now this guy can testify against him.
00:51:25This guy can go into the authorities
00:51:27and tell them, yo, this guy killed 99 people.
00:51:29He confessed to me.
00:51:30That's why he killed that guy.
00:51:33Maybe the guy would have said,
00:51:34well, you know, okay, whatever, you know,
00:51:36no problem, we good.
00:51:39Maybe he would have let him slide.
00:51:42But this is what happens.
00:51:44You have to think in a practical sense
00:51:46what would happen to a person
00:51:47who gets exposed to this type of thing.
00:51:49But the point of the story was
00:51:50the man was patient,
00:51:52meaning persistent and diligent.
00:51:54He didn't just give up.
00:51:56He went until he found someone
00:51:58who gave him some good advice.
00:52:00And that man told him to go
00:52:01to that particular land.
00:52:02And he started to go there.
00:52:04Now the story doesn't say how old he was.
00:52:07But you see that he died on the way.
00:52:09So it eludes to that he was older.
00:52:11It takes a long time to kill 100 people.
00:52:14It don't happen overnight.
00:52:16And to get away with it,
00:52:18it takes some effort.
00:52:19So we imagine that this person was elder in his age.
00:52:22He died on the path.
00:52:24He never really made it.
00:52:26But because, and Allah knows best,
00:52:27of his persistence, his patience, his diligence,
00:52:31Allah made the earth shortened for him
00:52:33so that he was taken to the paradise
00:52:35being from the people he was closest to.
00:52:38The people of the good land
00:52:39and not the people of the foul land.
00:52:43So we learn a lot about coping
00:52:46with these different situations.
00:52:49And most of us don't really have real bad situations
00:52:52that can't be solved.
00:52:54So Allah is telling us,
00:52:56أَلَّذِينَ إِذَا صَابَتْهُمْ مُّصِيبَةٌ قَالُوا إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ
00:53:04Allah says, those who,
00:53:06when something happens to them
00:53:08that they don't like,
00:53:09some calamity, some musiba,
00:53:12something happens to them that they don't like,
00:53:16could be anything,
00:53:17they say,
00:53:18إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ
00:53:22They say, they recognize,
00:53:24they go going back to remembering.
00:53:26They remember,
00:53:27I belong to Allah, I'm Allah's.
00:53:29What say do I,
00:53:30what am I entitled to?
00:53:32What right do I have to complain?
00:53:35My father,
00:53:36when I used to walk past my father sometime,
00:53:38I have four brothers,
00:53:39he used to like pop us in the head.
00:53:41You know, just pop us in the head when we're going by.
00:53:43But then my brother sometimes used to do the same thing.
00:53:46We're walking by,
00:53:47pop us in the head too.
00:53:48If it was my brother, we turn around and we fight.
00:53:51I mean,
00:53:52sometimes you get popped in the head and you don't know who it is.
00:53:54You turn around,
00:53:55oh, it's your father.
00:53:56Keep going.
00:53:57You turn around back and go back in direction.
00:53:59You know, because you know it's your father.
00:54:00What can you do?
00:54:02When you realize that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
00:54:05is the one that's causing it to happen,
00:54:07you have to accept it.
00:54:11You have to accept it and embrace it
00:54:13as an opportunity for you to get closer to Allah.
00:54:18Allah is telling, Allah's Messenger ﷺ,
00:54:20he said that Allah tests those that he loves
00:54:24by giving them hardship after hardship.
00:54:27And these hardships lift off their sins.
00:54:31They take away their bad deeds.
00:54:34Each one of these musiba.
00:54:35To the point that even if he is pricked with a what?
00:54:38A thorn.
00:54:40If he's injured in the slightest way with a thorn prick,
00:54:44it is the forgiveness of some of his sins.
00:54:47And he does this so that his slave can come yawm al-qiyamah,
00:54:51free of the sins.
00:54:53Having paid for it through the difficulties
00:54:55that he had to go through in this life.
00:54:58And his difficulties are increased
00:55:00for the people that do more good deeds.
00:55:02And we see these difficulties in the lives of the Prophet.
00:55:05Look at the Prophet Nuh.
00:55:07His son drowned.
00:55:08His other wife didn't even get on the ship.
00:55:11Look at what happened to Ayyub.
00:55:14Everyone except his wife.
00:55:17Everybody in his family were killed in one day.
00:55:21The building fell on them.
00:55:24All his property were taken.
00:55:27His livestock were stolen.
00:55:30All in one event after the other.
00:55:34Ayyub is tested.
00:55:36Then he gets sick for 18 years.
00:55:41Sick for 18 years.
00:55:44No cure in sight.
00:55:46Nobody knows what's the problem.
00:55:49All his friends leave him
00:55:52over the years.
00:55:53They get tired of going and seeing this guy.
00:55:56Something's wrong with him.
00:55:58And it's a different era
00:55:59where they believe that this musiba,
00:56:01this uncurable disease,
00:56:03it has to be a test from Allah.
00:56:05Allah is doing something to you
00:56:07because you won't repent.
00:56:08And that's what they would say to Ayyub.
00:56:10You are sinful something.
00:56:12You did something in secret
00:56:14that we don't know.
00:56:15And that's why Allah is doing this to you.
00:56:17Eventually.
00:56:18It doesn't happen all at once.
00:56:20But can you imagine
00:56:21having a friend that's sick for 18 years?
00:56:24Would you go visit him every day?
00:56:26Would you have patience even with this person?
00:56:29Until his wife herself,
00:56:32she said,
00:56:33you did something.
00:56:34Come on.
00:56:35You can't be that perfect.
00:56:37Seek the forgiveness of Allah.
00:56:38Do this, do that.
00:56:42He wouldn't curse Allah.
00:56:44He wouldn't say anything bad about Allah.
00:56:47He wouldn't utter one word
00:56:50displeasing to Allah.
00:56:52This is the ultimate of patience.
00:56:55And this is why when we think of patience,
00:56:57we're told to think about the Prophet Ayyub
00:57:00and his patience that he had.
00:57:03He became an ibra,
00:57:04an example for patience.
00:57:07So for ourselves,
00:57:08we don't have these situations.
00:57:10All we have to do is remember
00:57:12that we belong to Allah
00:57:14and that we are presently on course
00:57:17in every action going back and returning to Allah.
00:57:21Why is this something that we should remember?
00:57:24We should remember this
00:57:26because this might be our last moment.
00:57:28We might die on this situation.
00:57:30How do you wanna see this situation on the last day?
00:57:34You know?
00:57:35Because sometimes we don't recognize
00:57:37our everyday life
00:57:39as the whole concept of our life.
00:57:42Meaning, we're now doing this.
00:57:50You shouldn't lean with your hand on the floor.
00:57:53The Prophet ﷺ and his companions,
00:57:55they used to consider this an act of laziness
00:57:58and something that the Jews would do
00:58:00to put their hand on the floor.
00:58:02But the believers would put their fist there
00:58:04to sit up.
00:58:05And then the Prophet ﷺ,
00:58:06he used to tell us in the salah,
00:58:08at the end of the salah,
00:58:09to seek refuge in Allah from al-kasal,
00:58:12from being lazy.
00:58:14So you wanna sit up, you wanna be men.
00:58:17Sit up strong and strengthen the back.
00:58:19And if you notice babies,
00:58:21babies never hunch.
00:58:23You know that?
00:58:24They always sit up straight.
00:58:26They sit up straight.
00:58:27They learn hunching from us,
00:58:31from watching us.
00:58:33So we want to, unless you're an older man,
00:58:36then you should sit up, inshallah.
00:58:38Especially the young brothers.
00:58:40Alhamdulillah.
00:58:41What was I saying?
00:58:44Somebody remind me, where was I?
00:58:46Besides the baby thing.
00:58:48See, I have ADD.
00:58:50Did I have ADD in Sri Lanka?
00:58:53What is it?
00:58:54Attention Deficiency Disorder.
00:58:56They make this new thing now.
00:58:57If you forget easily,
00:58:59they say you have a disorder.
00:59:03Astaghfirullah.
00:59:09Astaghfirullah.
00:59:10Where was I brother? Somebody remind me.
00:59:15Ayyub, alhamdulillah.
00:59:18Okay.
00:59:19I don't recall what I was saying about Ayyub,
00:59:21except that, you know, he was tested,
00:59:23he became an example for patients.
00:59:26You know, the Prophet Ayyub a.s,
00:59:28and after his 18 years of being tested,
00:59:32Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala showed him the way
00:59:34out of this particular test.
00:59:37And so we should draw examples
00:59:39from the lives of the Prophets,
00:59:41صلى الله عليه وسلم أجمعين,
00:59:44and in particular the life of the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم,
00:59:47who, if we look at the lives of the Prophets,
00:59:50you see different situations.
00:59:52If you look at the Prophet Lut,
00:59:54he was tested with his wife, right?
00:59:56His wife didn't believe in him.
00:59:58She didn't believe in him,
00:59:59and she was killed with the people of Sodom and Gomorrah.
01:00:03If you look at the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم أجمعين,
01:00:06his wife Aisha رضي الله عنها,
01:00:08she was told,
01:00:09they said that she made adultery in the Prophet's life.
01:00:12They're making this claim to the Prophet.
01:00:15All the different fitna that Musa went through with his people.
01:00:19They blamed Musa,
01:00:20they said, Musa, we had hardship before you came,
01:00:22and hardship once you came.
01:00:23They wouldn't listen, they were very hard-headed.
01:00:25In fact, you see so many examples of Musa
01:00:28dealing with Bani Israel in the Qur'an.
01:00:30Some of the ulema of the path,
01:00:31they said the Qur'an almost was the book of Musa,
01:00:34because of all the examples that we have
01:00:36of Musa and Bani Israel
01:00:38with them being hard-headed and being stubborn.
01:00:42So we don't have those particular situations.
01:00:46All we have to do is to remember that
01:00:48when we do have a hardship,
01:00:50remember that we belong to Allah,
01:00:52and that we are presently and actively returning to Allah.
01:00:55Allah tells us in the Qur'an,
01:00:56أُولَٰئِكَ عَلَىٰ هُدًى مِّن رَّبِّهِمْ وَرَحْمَةًۭ
01:00:59وَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْمُحْتَدُونَ
01:01:01He said, these, those who are in this situation,
01:01:05who when they have a calamity, a hardship,
01:01:08when they lose their money,
01:01:09when their child has birth defects,
01:01:11when someone dies in their family,
01:01:15or when they get afraid and have these different stresses,
01:01:18when they remember Allah,
01:01:20and they say,
01:01:20إِنَّ لِلَّهِ إِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ
01:01:22أَلَهُمُ الْجُنِّ فِي مَصِيبَةِ وَاخْلِفْ لِي خَيْرًا مِنْهُ
01:01:25There's another dua that we can say,
01:01:26Oh Allah, you know, reward me in this hardship,
01:01:31and make some good come after it.
01:01:34وَاخْلِفْ لِي خَيْرًا مِنْهُ
01:01:36Make some good come after it.
01:01:38Okay?
01:01:39These are some of the duas that we can say,
01:01:41أَلَهُمَ أَعِنِّي أَلَىٰ ذِكْرِكَ وَشُكْرِكَ وَحُسْنِ إِبَادَتِكِ
01:01:45Oh Allah, help me,
01:01:46help me, أَعِنِّي أَلَىٰ شُكْرِكَ
01:01:49To be grateful to you, right?
01:01:51وَأَلَهُمَ أَعِنِّي أَلَىٰ ذِكْرِكَ
01:01:55To remember you,
01:01:56to be mindful of you,
01:01:58then grateful to and beautifully worship you.
01:02:01This is what this dua,
01:02:02when something happens that you don't like.
01:02:04These are dua that the Prophet ﷺ,
01:02:06he taught us what to say.
01:02:08And to seek a lot of istighfar and forgiveness.
01:02:12And Allah says, these are the ones
01:02:14who have the guidance of their Lord
01:02:17and His mercy.
01:02:19And these are the ones that...
01:02:21These are the ones that have accepted
01:02:23and are going on the way
01:02:25that the Prophet ﷺ has taught us to be.
01:02:29I said all this to try to remind us
01:02:32the concept of coping.
01:02:35And I'm trying to go from many different angles
01:02:38so that we could understand
01:02:40this particular concept
01:02:42because we're in a constant battle.
01:02:44The mujahidah, like I said,
01:02:46the battle within ourselves
01:02:48to get us to comply.
01:02:50Just to wrap it up,
01:02:52you have to strengthen your hearts.
01:02:55This is the tool that we need
01:02:58because it has its own intellect.
01:03:01Do you realize that the first organ
01:03:04to begin is the heart?
01:03:07Before the brain, they say now,
01:03:09someone is dead because his brain is dead.
01:03:11The kuffar don't even know what death is.
01:03:13They can't even define and agree upon
01:03:16what constitutes death.
01:03:19Okay? That's why they have
01:03:20all these other things going on.
01:03:22But we know that the first organ,
01:03:25you know, even after two weeks
01:03:27when the baby, you hear the heart.
01:03:30You go to the doctor,
01:03:31you can hear the ultrasound
01:03:33and hear the baby's heart.
01:03:34It has its own intellect.
01:03:37And the Prophet shallallahu alaihi wa sallam,
01:03:39he taught us this.
01:03:41He taught us this.
01:03:42He said, if you don't find
01:03:44what you're looking for in the Qur'an
01:03:46and you don't find it in the sunnah,
01:03:49where do you go to ask for your fatwa?
01:03:51He said,
01:03:52استفتي قلبك.
01:03:54Seek your fatwa.
01:03:56است, in front of the word,
01:03:58means to seek.
01:03:59Like if you want the ghaffar of Allah,
01:04:01you say, استغفر الله.
01:04:03Right?
01:04:04So he said, استفتي.
01:04:06Look for the fatwa في قلبك.
01:04:09استفتي قلبك.
01:04:11Seek the fatwa from your heart.
01:04:14He said, for whatever makes your heart
01:04:17feel at ease and tranquility,
01:04:20then do that.
01:04:22And whatever makes your heart
01:04:24go back and forth and feel turmoil,
01:04:28then leave that.
01:04:29No matter how many people
01:04:31give their opinion to the contrary.
01:04:35Seek the fatwa of your heart.
01:04:38But know that you cannot feed the heart food.
01:04:43Not the physical food.
01:04:45The things that you have to feed your heart
01:04:48is the food of the Qur'an.
01:04:50That is the thing
01:04:52that will clean and purify your heart.
01:04:55Couple it, season it
01:04:58with constant dhikr and a constant istighfar.
01:05:01Think about your sins.
01:05:04One person said,
01:05:05if you could go home and write a list
01:05:07of just your sins.
01:05:09You know, someone when they have a lot of money,
01:05:12what do they do?
01:05:13They're constantly pulling it out and counting it.
01:05:15Why are they doing that?
01:05:16To make sure they still got it, right?
01:05:18They wanna see how much I got left.
01:05:21How much money do I have?
01:05:22I hope I didn't lose none.
01:05:23Me count it again.
01:05:25There's a habit that we do.
01:05:28Go home and count your sins.
01:05:31It's better for you.
01:05:33I challenge you, try this.
01:05:36Go home, take a piece of paper out.
01:05:38It's not from the sunnah or anything like that.
01:05:40It's just an idea that I learned.
01:05:43Write down your sins.
01:05:45Really.
01:05:47You know why a lot of people
01:05:48won't really write all their sins down?
01:05:50They're afraid somebody might see that.
01:05:53They're definitely afraid
01:05:55that that paper might fall into enemy hands.
01:05:58Okay?
01:06:03That's a top secret document, right?
01:06:07But I'm telling you, write it down
01:06:10so that you can look at that.
01:06:12You know why?
01:06:13Because you'll get disgusted with yourself.
01:06:17The ego is so powerful
01:06:20that it forces you not to think about your sins
01:06:24so that you won't feel bad about yourself.
01:06:26But did you know that feeling inferior,
01:06:31feeling bad about yourself
01:06:34is the seed for every good deed?
01:06:37And that feeling so good about yourself
01:06:41and so satisfied with yourself
01:06:43is the seed for every evil action?
01:06:47That people when they feel bad
01:06:50they try to do good.
01:06:52But when they're overjoyed with themselves,
01:06:55whatever, I'm good.
01:06:57I ain't worried about that.
01:06:59You see, that position.
01:07:01Yeah, I got enough in the bank, whatever.
01:07:05But when they feel,
01:07:07man, I'm in trouble.
01:07:09I'm not that good, I have to get there.
01:07:13Then they act in accordance.
01:07:16So I'm asking you brothers,
01:07:18try this drill.
01:07:19Do it in the middle of the night.
01:07:20Don't let nobody see it.
01:07:21Burn it after you do it.
01:07:23No, no, seriously.
01:07:24Because you know what will happen?
01:07:26At least this is what happened to me
01:07:27and some of my friends.
01:07:29After you make that list,
01:07:31you know you left things off.
01:07:33But what will happen is now
01:07:35you'll think about that list, okay?
01:07:38And things that you forgot about
01:07:40will come to your mind.
01:07:41Sins you forgot about.
01:07:44And when they come to mind,
01:07:45now there's an opportunity for you
01:07:47to ask Allah for forgiveness for that thing.
01:07:49Aynan, specifically.
01:07:50You remember it?
01:07:51Ask Allah for forgiveness.
01:07:53Cry over your sins.
01:07:55Cry, I mean really cry.
01:07:58And if you can't cry, okay?
01:08:01If you can't cry,
01:08:03go somewhere where no one else is there
01:08:06and pretend to cry.
01:08:09What I say is this.
01:08:11If you go somewhere
01:08:13where maybe you can't find some place alone,
01:08:17maybe you can get in your car,
01:08:18maybe you can go to the beach
01:08:20at a particular time when no one is there,
01:08:21no one sees you,
01:08:22or people don't know you,
01:08:24pretend to cry.
01:08:26تبكى
01:08:28When you start making the sounds
01:08:31and sobbing and no one's there,
01:08:32you will cry.
01:08:34Believe me, you will cry.
01:08:37But it has to be on condition
01:08:39that you're alone
01:08:41and no one else is there.
01:08:43We learn this from Umar ibn al-Khattab.
01:08:45رضي الله عنه
01:08:47He came to the Prophet ﷺ
01:08:50and he found the Prophet crying.
01:08:53And Abu Bakr was there as well.
01:08:55And they were crying.
01:08:58They were crying because
01:09:01the Prophet ﷺ,
01:09:03this was after Badr.
01:09:06And the Prophet had freed
01:09:10the Quraysh,
01:09:11the kuffar from Quraysh,
01:09:13those that could ransom themselves
01:09:16by money
01:09:17and those that could ransom themselves
01:09:18by teaching 10 Muslims how to read.
01:09:21Do you see the importance of reading?
01:09:23Do you see where the Prophet ﷺ
01:09:25put reading?
01:09:27Learning how to read Arabic?
01:09:30The Prophet ﷺ said,
01:09:32the worst person,
01:09:33يوم القيامة
01:09:35is a person that fought a prophet,
01:09:38was killed by a prophet
01:09:41or killed a prophet.
01:09:43Worst people, يوم القيامة.
01:09:46Yet he frees
01:09:49the people that were trying to kill
01:09:52the Prophet of Allah
01:09:54and the message of Islam
01:09:56if they taught 10 Muslims how to read.
01:10:01So that goes back to what we were speaking about earlier.
01:10:05The importance of learning how to read.
01:10:08And utilizing that skill
01:10:11to recite the Qur'an daily.
01:10:13But we were saying,
01:10:14what happened is he freed these people
01:10:16on the day of Badr,
01:10:17after the battle of Badr
01:10:19and ransomed them.
01:10:21And Umar ibn al-Khattab,
01:10:23he said, my opinion
01:10:25is that we should dig a big hole,
01:10:27throw all those Kafirs in it
01:10:29and burn them,
01:10:30send them straight to hell.
01:10:31Kill each one of them.
01:10:33Okay?
01:10:34And bury them or leave them like that.
01:10:37And there were some other Sahaba
01:10:38who said the same thing.
01:10:40Abu Bakr, he said,
01:10:42we should ransom them,
01:10:43let them go.
01:10:45These are our brothers, our cousins,
01:10:47maybe there are some good to come out of them.
01:10:50So the Prophet shallallahu alaihi wasallam,
01:10:52he went with Abu Bakr's opinion,
01:10:54and he freed them.
01:10:55Later on,
01:10:57Allah revealed in the Qur'an
01:10:59that if it wasn't for the promise of Allah
01:11:01that he allowed burying,
01:11:02and that it's not befitting
01:11:04that the Prophet shallallahu alaihi wasallam
01:11:06free people when they haven't owned the land.
01:11:09You know, when they haven't taken the kuffar
01:11:11and that it was proper
01:11:12that he should have killed them.
01:11:14That was the better action.
01:11:16Okay?
01:11:17The Prophet began to cry.
01:11:20He began to cry.
01:11:21I know a lot of people don't believe
01:11:23that the Messenger of Allah shallallahu alaihi wasallam
01:11:24made some mistakes.
01:11:26But he did.
01:11:28Sallallahu alaihi wasallam,
01:11:29and Allah shows it in the Qur'an.
01:11:31What do you do when he says,
01:11:32عَبَّسَ وَتَوَلَّىٰۙ
01:11:34He frowned and turned away.
01:11:36So the Prophet is showing that
01:11:37he left off doing something better.
01:11:40His deed is forgiven
01:11:42and accepted by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
01:11:44But he left off doing that thing
01:11:46that was better.
01:11:47Sallallahu alaihi wasallam.
01:11:49And so he was crying over this.
01:11:51And when Abu Bakr came
01:11:53and found out why the Prophet was crying,
01:11:55he cried also because he felt
01:11:57part of that problem.
01:11:59Because he gave the suggestion to free them.
01:12:02So here comes Umar.
01:12:04And he says,
01:12:05why are you guys crying?
01:12:07Tell me.
01:12:08Tell me because if you tell me,
01:12:10if you tell me,
01:12:11maybe it'll make me cry as well.
01:12:14And if it doesn't make me cry,
01:12:16I will pretend to cry.
01:12:19So we see it's not from hypocrisy
01:12:22to pretend to cry
01:12:25and to sob over your sins.
01:12:27Wallahi, Allah's Messenger told us
01:12:30that the person who cries over his sins
01:12:33won't be punished for them in the hellfire.
01:12:36So here is a benefit.
01:12:38We're at war, ya ikhwan.
01:12:40We're at war with shaitan.
01:12:43And the prize is your soul.
01:12:47This is the deal.
01:12:49You want to take every effort
01:12:51to defend yourself
01:12:54and protect yourself from shaitan.
01:12:57Make a list of your sins.
01:12:59Don't show it to anyone.
01:13:00Because the Prophet shallallahu alaihi wasallam said,
01:13:02everybody will be forgiven,
01:13:04except the ones who refuse.
01:13:07And he said, everyone will be forgiven,
01:13:09except the mujahidun,
01:13:11except those who broadcast their sins.
01:13:16So we don't say, you don't tell nobody your sins.
01:13:20There's no righteousness in that.
01:13:22What Allah has hidden for you,
01:13:24don't show.
01:13:26Don't broadcast your sins.
01:13:29And don't refuse.
01:13:30He said,
01:13:32everybody's gonna enter...
01:13:33I made the mistake.
01:13:34It's not anybody will be forgiven.
01:13:35Anyone will enter jannah,
01:13:36except those who refuse.
01:13:38And who will refuse?
01:13:39And whoever obeys Allah will enter jannah.
01:13:41Whoever refuses to obey Allah's messenger
01:13:44has refused to enter jannah.
01:13:46But I mixed it up in the hadith.
01:13:48It's actually, everyone will be forgiven,
01:13:49except those who broadcast their sins.
01:13:52That's the correction for that.
01:13:54So like I said, make the list.
01:13:56Write these things down.
01:13:58Think of it and seek refuge and forgiveness of Allah
01:14:00for all the sins that you can remember.
01:14:02Cry over your sins.
01:14:04If you cannot pretend to cry,
01:14:06ask Allah to forgive you for the sins that you know
01:14:09and the things that you don't remember.
01:14:11And for the things that you remember doing
01:14:13and the things that you don't even know that were sins.
01:14:16I'll ask Allah to forgive me
01:14:18and I'm sorry for forgetting some of the parts
01:14:20that I wanted to explain and express to you.
01:14:22I'm trying to arm you
01:14:24and get you ready for this battle that we're in.
01:14:28I say everything that I've said.
01:14:31And may Allah forgive me
01:14:33and forgive you all.